Gasaraki: Dreams of the Kai
by Mynt Cailen
Summary: The battle with the Gasaraki ended, but with many things still left unfinished. What will the disbanded members of the SDF TA Platoon do, what will become of the remaming kugai and, what will become of the choosen kai? CH.2 IS UP! PLEASE R
1. Epi1: Feelings

The decision of our fate we have already made beyond The threshold We dared to give up now the awesome powers which Rightfully were ours For now, we sit in the comforts of familiarity Feelings   
Misuzu opened her eyes, the heavy stone of the weather wheel spinning fast, whirling. Gravity gripped it tightly, and the wheel began to slow, the characters carved onto it becoming more and more visible.   
'If only my life were as so,' she wished upon the wheel, her hands clasped tightly against her chest. 'If only my future were so clear...'   
It had been a month since she woke up in the arms of her brother Yushiro. The dawn had just risen. She had been crying, but why?   
All around her was destruction, but also the wonder of love and happiness that always surrounds friends and people who are close to each other.   
She felt like an outsider, a foreign object placed in the bubble of positive feelings. And yet, she had also been involved in...   
"What have I done?" She whispered silently to herself.   
"What's the matter, Little Sister?" A voice spoke gently behind her.   
Startled, Mizusu whirled around, a look of shock on her face as she stared into the eyes of her brother's lover, Miharu.   
Miharu smiled gently as a warm breeze tousled her hair and jacket.   
"It's, it's nothing." She nearly whispered, her feelings towards the girl still unclear to her. 'Like so many other things,' she thought with a frown, 'still unclear, and yet no one is willing to help with any of the questions in my mind.'   
"Then why such a long face?" Another voice spoke. Her brother Yushiro stepped out from behind Miharu, a loving smile on his face and a kindness to his eyes that could only be shared between a close brother and sister.   
"It's nothing, Big Brother. I was just... Thinking..."   
He smile faded a bit. "About father? And about Kazukiyo?"   
She nodded. That had been one of the few things she had been thinking of recently.   
Kazukiyo.... He said something to her...something about... About Yushiro... And then... Father...   
Misuzu grabbed her head. Yushiro dashed forwards to catch her if she fell. Miharu merely looked on with concern. "Misuzu? Are you...?"   
"Just a headache, Big Brother." Misuzu lied with a slight smile. "I just... I'm going to go rest..."   
"I'll help you," Miharu began sweetly, reaching for one of her arms.   
"No!" She shouted accidentally, quickly pulling away. "I just... I'll be fine, really."   
The two looked at her with concern, but shrugged.   
Without hesitation, Mizusu made her way to the large Gowa house, the pain in her head intensifying... ________________________________________________________________________   
She was asleep, in a familiar place and yet... So unfamiliar at the same time. A graveyard, an entire plot with Gowa descendants buried everywhere. Her brother Yushiro stood before her but, he was younger, a child. Eight years, she knew suddenly, he is eight years younger.   
This was a different Yushiro from the one she knew now. This was the REAL Yushiro.   
"Big Brother," Misuzu whispered, taking a step closer to the familiar boy. "Yushiro, what's going on? Why was I all alone?"   
The child smiled, began walking away, his ghostly figure fading.   
"Wait, no! Big Brother!" Quickly, she ran after him, trying to keep up with him...   
The scene changed. No longer were they in the cemetery, but in a large lot, trees lining the asphalt path. Yushiro appeared before her again. Behind him though was something....   
Something familiar...   
'Kai,' something spoke in her mind....   
"Kai..." She repeated, staring up at monstrous looking machine that sat in a calm, cross-legged position. Its samurai armour and Noh mask-like face, framed by long hair which hung into it's eyes were beautiful and horrifying at the same time. It's eyes bore into her, calling her...   
"Kai." Yushiro said, offering a hand out to her.   
"I am... A Kai?"   
Pain erupted inside her stomach, quickly spreading up and through her entire being.   
'Yushiro!' She cried out, but he couldn't hear her, and she couldn't move! And then, she showed up, her... Miharu...   
The scene changed once more. A yellow place, strange, bodies deformed, connected, creating space...   
"I'm... I'm so cold." Whimpering, she hugged herself, looking around. "Why am I all alone?"   
"Misuzu..."   
Turning, she saw a strange shape, greyish. Small eyes opened on it, it's arms and legs curled up inside itself as if it were an infant in a womb. "Misuzu..." It spoke her name again with Yushiro's voice.   
"Big Brother? Is that you?"   
"I am here, dear sister."   
"I... I don't want to be alone..."   
"You aren't alone. I am here. You found me. You will find me again. You are Kai. You have the power..."   
Everything began to fade away, the strange gray form materializing into Yushiro. The Yushiro she knew.   
"Big Brother! No!" Reaching out for him, she tried to move forwards, but couldn't. Space wouldn't allow her to move.   
"It's not over..."   
"Kai."   
"Big Brother!!!"   
________________________________________________________________________   
Yushiro left the room. It had taken her forever to convince him it was a nightmare.   
Yushiro. But not her Yushiro.   
The one alive now, the one who had just comforted her, called her Dear Sister, was   
Miharu's Yushiro.   
Big Brother was dead.   
Father was dead.   
Kazukiyo was dead.   
And it HAD been her fault...   
'Kai,' something whispered in her ear, Yushiro's voice filling her with a strange energy.   
'You are Kai... You have the power...'   
"I am Kai." ________________________________________________________________________  
Yushiro shut the door, something in the back of his mind nagging him. They had all agreed after the incident with the Gasaraki that they shouldn't tell Misuzu anything more than they had to. She had woken up, confused, not knowing what had happened. 'For the better,' he thought to himself, walking down the narrow shoji-walled hallway.   
But something just now... The way Misuzu had reacted to his touch, to his voice. It wasn't her. She seemed... Scared. Of him.   
Did she know?   
But how could she?   
'It was just a dream,' Yushiro shook his head, walking into the sunlight. 'Just a bad dream...'   
"Is she all right?" Kahoru Kaburagi asked, standing next to Miharu, looking strange in her civilian clothes and not her SDF uniform.   
Yushiro nodded, although it wasn't the whole truth.   
Miharu's eyes reflected the fact that she could tell he was lying. Kahoru though, didn't notice.   
"Shall we go then? The meeting starts at 1800."   
"Be careful." Miharu held his hand gently, not wanting to let go.   
"Are you sure you don't want to come?" He asked, not wanting to leave her behind ever again for anything.   
"I'll look after Misuzu. Besides, I don't want to see the Kugai ever again." The last part she whispered, not wanting the words to reach Misuzu's ears.   
Yushiro simply nodded. He, too, wanted to forget all about the Gasara, the Kugai, and what it meant to be a Kai. 'I'm haunted by the memories I don't want,' he thought, smiling back at Miharu as he followed the ex-captain to the small, chauffeured car.   
'Maybe, this closure will end the nightmare for us all,' he wondered as he stepped into the car, his thoughts going out to both Misuzu and Miharu. ________________________________________________________________________ The entire TA SDF was there, all in civilian dress with the exception of Akia Hirokawa in his Lieutenant uniform and Tamotsu Hayakawa in his chief officer's dress.   
Ataka smiled at him as he entered the huge observation room. "So, Yushiro, where is that girl of yours, Miharu, isn't it?"   
Yushiro nodded. "Back at the estate with my sister." He spoke quietly, memories of the entire squadron and their trials flooding his mind.   
  
"Ah, there you are, Yushiro." Kiyotsugu Gowa, one of his older brothers, called as he entered the room from an adjacent one. Brushing a small strand out hair from his eyes, he gave his brother a smile. "So, how is our sister Misuzu doing."   
"Well." Yushiro replied coldly, his brothers all but strangers to him. The only one he had ever been close to was his sister. Not even his own mother, Yukino Gowa, had his love.   
Ex-captain Nozomi Takayama cleared his throat, cutting through the tension that had started to build up between the brothers. "If you don't mind, sir, I think we would like to get to the point of being here real soon."   
Hirokawa narrowed his already small eyes even more at Takayama, quickly remembering he no longer had the power he once had before the SDF had been disbanded.   
Kiyotsugu swept some hair away from his eyes and nodded in acknowledgment. "All right." Turning to the large window in the room, everyone looked down onto the two, monstrous samurai looking beasts sitting cross-legged and serene in the next room.   
"We've come up with very few ideas with what to do with the two remaining Kugai. There's the possibility that we could bury them,..."   
"Won't somebody who knows about them want to try and dig them up for their own personal gains?" Hayakawa interrupted.   
"Of course. That's why we've come up with really the only other alternative. Disassembling the Kugai, and from there, either burying the pieces or storing them in different, undisclosed warehouses around Japan."   
Everyone seemed to slowly nod to the idea, except for Yushiro. Kiyotsugu noticed. "Something wrong with that, Yushiro?"   
Yushiro shook his head, returning his attention back to his brother. "No, no, it's fine."   
..It still called to him...   
Everyone had been staring at him. For that spilt second, the monsters below him twitched, sensing his energy, wanting to gather him, the life-force they needed to do the one thing they knew how... To fight...   
"No, it's a good idea." Turning, he decided to leave the room.   
Outside in the lone, gray hallway, he leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. His heart was pounding, something in his mind triggering fear. Fear, that he'd use to Kugai again? No, no, he would never touch that power again. There were too many now that he cared about more than life. People that he could never harm...   
And still, something about the Kugai had struck intense fear in his heart.   
A warning?   
Did they know something he didn't?   
But how?   
'Don't they always know?' He thought to himself, looking back at the observation room door. 'Aren't they the weapons that hold the memories of our past and future within them?' ________________________________________________________________________  
The koi pond sparkled as light from nearby paper lanterns reflected off the surface and the koi beyond. Serene, beautiful, it helped to distract her mind for a moment.   
'Good things,' Miharu thought to herself, watching as one koi with white, black and red markings came up and kissed the surface of the water. 'Yushiro... You're with Yushiro now. Now and forever. The errors and terror of the past can now be forgotten.'   
But none of that had been their fault. It was the puppeteers fault, those who had used them for the utter chaos and horror that only Yushiro and herself had been capable of creating. And, of late, Misuzu. 'But the past, now it is all in the past.'   
For a second, the entire world was perfect and beautiful.   
But only for a second   
It dawned on her, too late, that perfection was a mere illusion so thin, it could never stand alone. ________________________________________________________________________   
Misuzu watched in silence as Miharu slipped to the ground, hardly a moan escaping from her lips. Without even realizing what she had done, Misuzu knelt down, watching in stiff silence as a small trickle of blood, dark and wet in the night, began to run down the side of Miharu's head.   
Horrified, she dropped the pole she had used to strike her brother's lover, as if it had been placed in her hand by someone else. 'What have I done?'   
"What have I done?" She quietly whispered to herself, clasping her hands to her chest. A short, but quick breeze rustled her skirt, tousling Miharu's hair as the blood, trickling now down the side of her face, began to solidify.   
Something inside her told her she was right. Horror and sympathy was quickly replaced with empty feelings that what was done was right and final. The pain, the look on Miharu's face before she went slack...   
Memories from another place, another time, flooded her senses.   
They didn't know she was watching.   
They didn't know that they needed her.   
Her, with greater ability than anyone knew.   
How would they?   
Miharu.   
If she hadn't opposed, everything would have been complete.   
Miharu.   
The Flaw. Her eyes faded into a trance-like state. Control. Only she could control the Gasaraki now.   
Kazukiyo had been wrong - Yushiro could summon the Gasaraki, but without her, there would be no real control.   
No, she was a Kai.   
The Kai.   
No one could oppose her. ________________________________________________________________________  
Kahoru sighed. She needed air, to get away from this all, and the memories that had suddenly surfaced. She was certain she wasn't the only one who was being haunted by these memories, but that didn't mean she had to hide these emotions anymore. The TA division was disbanded now, and what had seemed to be a temporary thing, now becoming more and more a reality.   
Outside in the hallway, her gaze fell on Yushiro. He leaned against the wall, one leg bent with his boots resting against it. His arms were crossed, and if it weren't for the pained, frustrated, concentrated look on his face, he seemed peaceful, almost asleep, as if he hadn't been caught up in a web so complex with family and politics that it nearly tore him apart. Yushiro. So silent, so strong...   
A warmth suddenly began to rise in her face, and Kahoru shook her head, thankful that he wasn't looking. Their time together -although not intimate and in no real way close- had been enough for her to develop feelings for him. At first, it was merely a protective bond, trying to help him adjust to SDF life, straight off the streets. But when he suddenly was more than that, so did the bond and emotions become more. For her, anyway. Care grew to love, protectiveness to selfishness...   
But that was were Miharu had stepped into the picture. The two were destined for each other, it seemed. She did not want to step into the middle of what must be, but it didn't do anything to rid the void that had suddenly appeared when she realized she no longer had a chance with Yushiro. The two most important things, and things she had loved in her latest phase of life, all torn from her in a moment that was so sudden and surreal, she wondered if it were truly real, and not a dream that she'd awaken from.   
Yushiro stirred, quickly standing back down, eyes opening. "Miharu... Misuzu," he whispered, looking down the hallway towards the exit.   
Kahoru frowned, taking a step forwards. "Yushiro? Are you all right?"   
If he heard or even realized she was standing almost beside him, Yushiro gave no sign, the rapid thudding of his boots as he ran down the hall leaving her alone. Questioning.   
'I wonder what the matter is?' She asked herself, puzzled, running a hand through short, light brown hair. 'I wonder if I should follow him...'   
'No. It must be family business. He has both Misuzu and Miharu -especially Miharu- now. You're not needed.' That realization seemed only to increase the size of that void inside of her.   
The whispering swish of the door made Kahoru turn her head. Rin stepped out hurriedly, looking down the opposite end of the hall. "Yushiro?"   
"He just left." Kahoru replied, stepping towards the other woman. "What's going on?"   
"Damn. We just received a call from his mother, Yukino Gowa. Seems Miharu was attacked or something at the house, and Misuzu's nowhere to be found."   
Her heart began to suddenly race. 'Did he know? But how?'   
"Shit, c'mon." Kahoru began to run down the hallway, knocking open the double doors at the other end carelessly.   
Rin, without further instruction, quickly caught up and followed. "What's going on? We can just page him." A sudden bad feeling began to build in the pit of her stomach. As much as she loved Yushiro, she knew of his happiness when around Miharu. 'My god, I hope she's all right.' "No, he's already gone." Kahoru said. Together, they ran down the stairs, neither knowing what to expect.   
"Gone? But how did he know?" Rin's brows were knitted in puzzlement.   
Kahoru shook her head. She didn't want or have reason to explain the feeling she had, but she knew something was wrong.   
Seriously wrong.   
And for a second, she almost welcomed the break of peace. ________________________________________________________________________   
Outside the large research facility, the chauffeured car which Yushiro had arrived in with Kaburagi still waited, the driver flipping through the paper. Yushiro's loud footfalls made the driver look up, started. Upon recognizing Yushiro, the driver gave an acknowledging nod.   
"I need you to drive me back to the Gowa residence. Quickly." Yushiro's voice was calm, but strong, needing only to be obeyed as if he had been a soldier his entire life.   
"Sure thing." Starting the car, it turned away from the drive and back onto the main road. Trying to calm the fears that were continually growing into a torrent, Yushiro stared out past the road into a beyond only he could see. Something was wrong with the both of them, he knew. But how? Did it matter? Was it a connection they shared, being kai? 'If only we could have left all that behind us inside the Gasaraki...' 


	2. Epi2: Shadows

AN: FINALLY! I know, chapter two!! It took me a while due to the fact that, I wasn't sure anyone was reading this! But now I'm back, and am already starting with chapter three. Incase you missed it, I re-posted chapter one, adding a lot more to the end, so you might want to reread that before continuing on with chapter two. Thanks for all the wonderful comments so far! It's really gotten me to get up off my ass and continue on with this! And as always, I don't own any part of Gasaraki, although Saito and Takehiro are my made up characters. Please R&R, lemme know what you think and what you'd like to see happen! Dreams of another I finally found that Which had been missing A lone, silent path of the mind I now must hurry Shadows It hadn't taken long before the entire world had received news that the JSDF, or parts of, had been disbanded, following a paranormal event which was obviously being covered by the story that it was a military practice. The fact that both friends and foes of the Japanese knew this and neither had acted was for a good reason. There was no validity to the claim, despite what the Japanese government said.   
Spy reports came back with evidence that the FAKES -or what the Japanese were calling Tactical Armors, TA's- were being held in large warehouses, known only to those who hid them, a few of the higher-ups in the government, and, of course, those who were interested and successful enough to find them. But weather it was true, they were in storage, or it was merely a cover-up to hopefully draw out the enemies of the Japanese, was anyone's guess.   
It was a fifty-fifty call, and he was not even sure the plan would work.   
Takehiro sighed, tugging at the edge of hard, cuffed sleeves. It was a strange deal, which seemed to only benefit himself and his specially assembled group of spies, saboteurs and scientists. SYMBOL, the mysterious group, which was not known, nor wished to be well known, seemed to have the upper hand in all of this. The plans, information, and even most of his men -although he knew of most of them, and simply threw in a few of his own men for protection- seemed to be handed to him.   
Although when Takehiro Hirokawa had asked for more, he had been replied to with silence by the mysterious, tightlipped leader of SYMBOL.   
"I'm not liking this," Captain Saito, his Second in Command, grumbled, his binoculars wavering not once from their target.   
"It's not for us to like," Takehiro replied. He was used to his Second_'s sudden, usually pessimistic comments. It seemed to keep Saito and himself focused.   
Below them, in the sudden valley of a cutaway hill lay one of the warehouses which held the JSDF's TA's. Not all, by any means, he was sure. Even the JSDF was not that careless.   
Two lone patrolmen walked their rounds, each covering two sides. Tall flood lights mounted to each corner of the building and to some of the surrounding ones, bleeding the night surroundings with harsh, unnatural yellow light. Neither of the patrolmen made a sound as their boots moved acrossed the concrete pad, one way, then another, and the only sign that he could see that would raise a question to their alertness was when the taller of the two yawned. Even without binoculars, Takehiro could see the man stifling it from his position.   
"Manns here. Second team is in position. Confirmed that Firestorm has reached destination with no interference," an American accented voice crackled over the receiver in Takehiro's ear.   
He watched in silence as Saito flicked a small switch on the binoculars, swinging them to just north of their position to another small rise just beyond the building. A moment later, he nodded.   
With a final tug on the sleeves, Takehiro covered the mouthpiece of the radio headset with a hand. "Good. All teams, ready on my mark." He glanced down at Saito. The Second took another look down at the guards, then nodded. "Firestorm, go!"   
No sooner had the word escaped his lips when five, quick moving metal bulks pounded their way over the hill. As they planted high-tension cables into the hilltop, they slid down its steep bank down to the concrete pad below.   
The patrolman nearest that side of the hill yelped, radioing in something. He swung a pistol up from his holster. He didn't even clear a shot. The first of the FAKEs had reached the pad, the large, metal arm raising a gun which sang out a dozen shots a second. The man fell to a bloody heap without a chance.   
By this time, the second guard had rounded the building. From here, Takehiro could see him saying something, most likely a curse, before he too was cut down. He, at least, had made an effort to run.   
All around, blaring warning klaxons went off, echoing madly off the surrounding hills. All five of the FAKE's gathered at the south wall. Each Ishutar carried a large, automatic cannon attached to its left shoulder. With a small burst of smoke and flames, the Ishutars let loose a volley of shots that ate away through the concrete wall. Within seconds, the wall crumbled to dust beneath their feet.   
With mechanical, stomping sounds, the FAKE's entered the large warehouse, disappearing from sight within.   
"Reinforcements," Saito announced in a monotone voice. From around all ends of the buildings, armoured military trucks, piled with men and their guns and sub machine guns mounted to the trucks pulled up. Men began to jump from the vehicles and charge inside, most likely unawares of their imminate deaths.   
"Five seconds," Saito announced again, lowering his binoculars into a pouch at his side.   
Down below, there was a terrific rumbling as explosions went off inside. Emerging out with the billowing smoke and flames came the five Ishutars, the only visible damage being black scorch marks on their chests and sides. Cries of gun fire echoed around the area as the Ishutars responded to the threat. Men cried as they were cut down. One of the trucks exploded as its fuel tank was ruptured and sparked. More men died. More rounds were fired. And all the while, the building behind them, carrying two platoons of four TA's each exploded and burned.   
Takehiro and Saito both knew the job was finished, was successful. The TA's HAD been in storage; no one was intending on using them. Grinning, Takehiro slid down the opposite end of the hill, down to the roadside where a car waited for him and Saito.   
Without wasting time, the two men jumped into the car as another agent of SYMBOL made it pull away. Already, the whompwhomp of the Ishutar's helicopter pickups could be heard overhead.   
Takehiro opened up a case that laid on the floor next to his seat. Inside the small, portable communications center, he radioed a signal to the man in charge at SYMBOL of operations. "Firestorm was a success. Pickup is already on their way. What is the status of the others?"   
"Phoenix team has just reached their target, no opposition as of yet."   
"And Raven?"   
The other end was silent for a second. "Raven hasn't reached their destination point yet. They did confirm their radio silence until the operation is over with."   
Takehiro closed the brief back up and tugged on a sleeve. "Everything is working out perfectly," he finally broke the silence, watching as the car slid by a line of trees.   
"I wish something had gone wrong," Saito muttered, looking out the other window. "Nothing is perfect."   
"My friend, you are too much of the pessimist." Takehiro smiled. "There is still opportunity for your 'mistake' to happen, although I hope for our sake it doesn't. There is too much at stake for even a single thread to break."   
Saito shook his head, continuing to look out his window. It was much too perfect. But Takehiro was right. There was yet time for that one mistake to happen... 'And nothing is perfect...' ________________________________________________________________________  
Kahoru gritted her teeth as Rin turned the jeep sharply around another curve. If she didn't know Rin's driving skills any better, Kahoru was sure that one of these times, the woman would tip the vehicle over.   
"Okay, where do we go now, Captain?" Rin asked, a bit of teasing in her voice.   
Kahoru gave the other ex-captain one of her cold looks. "There should be another left up ahead somewhere here." Rin nodded, keeping her eyes on the dark road ahead.   
For a moment, both women were silent, the only sounds being the growl of the engine as Rin continued to roar beyond the speed limit. Deep in her thoughts, Kahoru pondered what could have gone wrong over at the Gowa's. Something that Yushiro must have sensed. But how? 'How had he sensed anything?'   
Yushiro always did seem to be attuned to everything around him. Even to possibilities and outlets that seemed impossible or even unimaginable. Yushiro...so young, so caught up in matters which were beyond even her comprehension...   
"Hey, you thinking about him?" Rin asked quietly, all the joking out of her voice.   
"Wha... no." Kahoru blushed, thankful that it was dark inside the jeep.  
"I am. I wonder what's happening? Poor Yushiro. Why does these things always have to happen to him? I hope it's nothing too serious. Hey!"   
Kahoru jumped from her thoughts, looking out the window. "What is it?"   
Three average sized, black military trucks dashed by them on the road. Kahoru scanned their sides, unable to catch any military insignias on them.   
'Odd. Why would unmarked armoured trucks be driving down this way at this time of night?' It wasn't that hard to figure it out. They could only be after one thing.  
"You don't think...?" Rin began.   
Kahoru nodded. "I do."   
"Well, this isn't turning out to be such a boring evening after all then." Rin grinned as she fell back enough to follow the trucks, but enough not to be caught following them.   
________________________________________________________________________   
Yushiro had the door open to the car even before the driver brought it to a full stop. It almost seemed as if nothing could be wrong. The night sky, although a bit chilly now, was deep and full of stars. Night creatures cried their songs over each other, the night blooms giving off their various perfumes. All around him, everything sat in its place, at peace. For a moment, he wondered if it weren't all just a dream, a passing, paranoid thought.   
No, it wasn't.   
A sharp pain sang through his head, and he knew he had been right. The nights peace was suddenly shattered and he remembered what he was doing.   
Rushing inside the main entrance, he ran down the left hallway towards the guest rooms where Miharu had been staying with them. The floors made a hollow echoing sound of his boots as they pounded against the solid planks. Outside, he could still hear the night things, and the light, tinkling movement of water as he passed over the large koi pond that rested below the hallway.  
He walked quickly over the tatami mat hallway, not caring that dirt and other things rested on the soles of his boots. Up ahead, he could see the faint glow of candlelight seeping from the shoji walls and the open door.   
Pausing for a moment he took in the sight before going over to kneel next to his mother. The candle tossed old, yellowed shadows over everything, his mother Yukino's slight movements reflecting a delicate dance as she attended Miharu. Not a twitch of emotion touched her face, and she could have been caring for a doll for all the world knew.  
Laying on a futon beside the candle lay Miharu, still in her clothes from earlier, a thick, red blanket pulled up nearly to her chin. Her eyes were closed, face silent and passive, the only thing giving away that something was wrong was the faint line of dried blood his mother was still wiping clean with a warm cloth and a large, bruised bump laying at the edge of her hairline.   
"Miharu," Yushiro whispered, moving towards the girl, touching that delicate cheek. Something in him burst, a flood of relief and worry washing over him. She seemed to be okay, especially if his mother hadn't felt it necessary to call an ambulance. Not that she ever touched matters of the new age, being a traditional house wife, confined to all matters of the house. Sometimes he wondered if that's what made her so cold towards everyone.   
"She will be fine, and will need lots of rest." She wiped lightly another bit of the dried blood off, returning the cloth to the pinkish water at her side to rise it off again. "Your sister is missing."   
"Misuzu." Fear caught him in a cold embrace, cold sweat springing up his back. Standing up, he made his way back out of the room. He had to find Misuzu. Something was wrong, and he thought it had all come from Miharu, but no. Something far worse was wrong with Misuzu.   
"Yushiro," his mother said sharply.   
He stopped and turned. His mother rarely talked to him, and they few times she did were with words without warmth or care.   
"Misuzu... The night sings a sad note tonight. A loss."   
The enigmatic words rolled over him a moment before he hurried back out on his way. 'What does that mean?' He wondered, trying to think of what to do.   
Misuzu was missing. Where would she go?   
It didn't take him long, without thinking or light, other than the faint glow from the house, to find his way to the weather wheel. The air sang of Misuzu's presence, as it always did. It was her favorite spot, standing beside it, turning its heavy stone and loosing herself to its blurred spinning. Spinning, and spinning, and spinning...   
He was quickly broken from his reverie as a sound alerted his senses. Yushiro held his breath, listening...   
From the front of the residence, there was a crunch of gravel, and a light snap of a twig as something, or someone, carelessly stepped on it. There was more than one person. More than two. Sneaking around...   
Heart suddenly pounding quickly in his chest, Yushiro ducked back into the house, running back the way he had. He was weaponless, and if they were intruders...   
Who knew what they were after? 'Miharu?' He suddenly wondered. It wouldn't be the first time. If it was people after her, he wouldn't let them take her. But they would most likely have weapons, right? And at the moment, he was weaponless.   
Without thinking, he turned towards the back of the house, running down the hallway that ran around the outside until he met where the wooden planks gave away to more solid tatami mats. He paused for a second outside of his fathers master bedroom. He had only been in the room a few times, and that was as a child, and no one had been inside of the room since Daizaburou's passing away. The memories of that evening, of his father being shot down, of everything that happened refreshened the fear in his heart. With that, he dashed in.   
Against the far wall, he could remember, lay the rack which held his fathers ceremonial weapons, the sheathed tanto, wakazashi and katana blades. Although he had been told by one of his brothers, long ago, that his father was a practiced swordsman, he had never actually seen his father lay a finger on their delicate scabbards. The ever-present spirit of his father lay thick in the room, trying to swallow him up in memories best forgotten, at least for the moment. There were other, more important matters at hand. He needed to protect Miharu and yes, his mother, and still had yet to find Misuzu. 'Please, be all right, dear sister,' he prayed as he reached for the top scabbard, the one that held his fathers katana.   
Yushiro was sweating now, damp, brown hair falling into his eyes more from the fear and adrenaline than from the heat. He pushed back the wet strands when he rounded a corner...   
A came nearly face to face with one of the intruders. From beneath the black, inhuman mask that hid his face, Yushiro could hear the man curse.   
Just as the man brought his pistol up to fire a shot, Yushiro had dropped to the ground and rolled away, the still sheathed katana gripped tightly in his hand. The shot illuminated the small hallway for a second, the bullet ripping through the thin, paper wall where Yushiro had been standing just a second earlier.   
He had never used a katana before, nothing more that a small knife, but he wasn't using it for fancy moves against another swordsman. Ripping it free of its sheath, he swung it out in an arch.   
A scream poured from the man as he collapsed to his knees, another shot exploding down the hallway. Yushiro felt warm, thick blood spill onto him, and winced.  
Climbing back to his feet, he grabbed the man's dropped gun before continuing down the hall, a silent, painful moaning following behind him.   
'Always behind me, the sound of pain, death and destruction.' He shook his head, trying to clear it of such thoughts. There wasn't time for that now, he had to be focused.   
Somewhere in the house, a sharp, breaking sound cracked the silence and solitude, followed by another scream. Blood pounding louder than he could ever remember, he dashed down the halls towards where his sister roomed.   
They had already been there. The futon and blankets were scattered, the small items around the room tipped over, some laying broken and shattered on the tatami mats. The intruders had been here, and found nothing.   
Quickly, he made his way back to the guest room, hearing men move around in other parts of the house. Yushiro stopped dead in his tracks as he reached Miharu's room.   
Lying quietly beside the sliding door was a man, his head resting in a pool of black, glistening blood. Just inside the door, he could see Yukino staring down at the body, a bloodied knife clutched in her hands, pressed against her kimono. Small trickles of it bled down the dress, the whites in her eyes giving her a ghostly, surreal look.   
"Mother," he began, reaching out to touch her hand.   
Yukino pulled back fiercely, the white of her eyes burning into his. "Go," she hissed, moving back into the room towards Miharu.   
Nodding, he ran back down the hallways. There was now two of the intruders out of the picture, so how many more were left roaming the house?  
________________________________________________________________________ Rin reached under the seat before pulling into the large drive which led up to the Gowa residence. Her hand touched the small hand guns she always had stashed under the seat. Pulling them up, she handed one to Kahoru.   
"What's this?" The woman asked, looking at her, running a hand through short, brown hair.  
"Handguns, Kaburagi." Rin grinned, knocking the safety off of hers as she pulled up the drive.   
"You know what I meant," the other woman growled, giving her a sharp look.  
"They probably have their own weapons. I don't want to be running in there weaponless." Rin stopped the truck a ways away from the house. "We should sneak up on them while we still have the advantage."   
Kahoru nodded, getting out of the truck and throwing off her own safety. It wasn't much firepower, even between the two of them, but it was better than dashing in their with nothing.   
'What a night indeed,' she thought, grateful that she had decided to follow Yushiro back to his house.   
Rin and Kahoru hid along the shadows of the drive. Kahoru had ditched her jacket back in the truck, and the chill of the night was already reaching her. Calm focus from numerous battles and fights kept the fear from her senses, which also made her that more aware of the coolness.   
Ahead, both the women could see the faint glow of the house lights from the inside, and in the foreground, the three unmarked trucks parked in a line. Quietly, the snuck in closer, both watching for signs of any movement from any of the trucks or the house.   
A scream shattered the night air, and both women froze to their spots. "The house," Kahoru whispered.   
"You don't think," Rin asked in a worried tone.   
Kahoru didn't answer It was better left unsaid. 'He can't be, he's better than that... Oh, Yushiro, please be okay.'   
Just as they were near the entrance to the house, ten men poured out, all dressed in dark clothing and gear, each holding a small pistol in two handed grips. Rin made a move to confront them, the anger on her face clear as day.   
Laying a forceful hand on the other woman's arm, Kahoru stopped her. None of them seemed to be carrying anything, or anybody, other than their guns. Besides, they were leaving. At this point, they were still outgunned and wouldn't gain anything by shooting up the place. Or themselves.  
Quickly scrambling into their vehicles, the three trucks pulled away with a hail of gravel spinning off the tires.   
Kahoru leapt up from their spot and ran into the house, Rin following close behind. Ahead, she could hear the pounding of boots coming their way. "Yushiro?" She asked, raising her gun up a tad.   
The pounding stopped but continued to come forwards. Stepping into a dim ray of moonlight that spilled through a nearby window was Yushiro, a small stain of blood on his clothes, hair disheveled, and carrying a gun and a katana.   
"Yushiro," she said again, stepping towards him, pocketing the gun.   
"It's not mine," he said, implying the blood on him. "Miharu's safe, sh'_s with mother. Nobody else was home."   
"We heard screams," Rin began, putting away her own gun.   
"Two of their men are dead."   
"What about your sister, Misuzu?" She continued to question.   
Kahoru shook her head. "They were after her, weren't they? Where is she, Yushiro?"   
Yushiro collapsed to his knees, both the weapons clattering beside him as they fell from his hand. A tear trailed slowly down his face as he looked down to the floor. "I don't know. I don't know..." ________________________________________________________________________   
Both the Kokuten and Shuten twitched in eagerness, sensing a newer, stronger call. The surge of their own power flowed over the two kugai's.   
Neither registered on the sensors hooked up to them, none of the monitors gave off any warning. And none of the scientists were watching as the two kugai's shuddered under their own flow of alien energy... 


End file.
